Tuesday, 6 May 2014

This is M.E. Awareness month and next week is M.E. Awareness day (12th May).

I've been very kindly asked to write a post for M.E. Awareness so here goes...

It's a lovely sunny day today and here I am with my thick hoodie accompanied by a pair of fingerless gloves. Why is that? Body temperature is just one very small symptom of this illness!

I'm going to explain what M.E. is and how it affects me.

What is M.E.?

Taken from the patient.co.uk website...

Chronic fatigue syndrome/ME is a condition where you have long-term
disabling tiredness (fatigue). Most people with chronic fatigue
syndrome/ME also have one or more other symptoms such as muscular pains,
joint pains, disturbed sleep patterns, poor concentration, headaches.
The cause is not known.

Doesn't sound great does it?! So on what scale does M.E. affect people? There isn't a specific answer so I thought it would be best to take you through the 3 different forms of M.E. (Mild, Moderate and Severe).

So you get a clearer insight into how limited sufferers with the different forms of M.E. are, I've taken the following information from the patient website...

Mild cases - you can care for yourself and can do
light domestic tasks, but with difficulty. You are still likely to be
able to do a job, but may often take days off work. In order to remain
in work you are likely to have stopped most leisure and social
activities. Weekends or other days off from work are used to rest in
order to cope.

Moderate cases - you have reduced mobility and are
restricted in most activities of daily living. The level of ability and
severity of symptoms often varies from time to time (peaks and troughs).
You are likely to have stopped work and require rest periods. Sleep at
night tends to be poor and disturbed.

Severe cases - you are able to carry out only
minimal daily tasks such as face washing and cleaning teeth. You are
likely to have severe difficulties with some mental processes such as
concentrating. You may be wheelchair-dependent for mobility and may be
unable to leave your home except on rare occasions, and usually have
severe prolonged after-effects from effort. You may spend most of your
time in bed. You are often unable to tolerate any noise, and are
generally very sensitive to bright light.

Hopefully now you will have a clear view on what M.E. is! So how does this illness affect me personally? Well I've compiled a video which I filmed last week as I feel that seeing how it affects me is the best way to get the message across and raise awareness.

Before I share the link with you, I'd like to share with you a little bit about my history!

I was diagnosed with M.E. on the 10th January 2013 aged 21. Just months prior to this, I had graduated from University and then went on to a Personal Training academy which I had only finished a couple a months before my diagnosis. It was summer 2012 that I 1st started to wonder if I had M.E. (I had never heard of the illness before then). Before then I thought it was just me and that it was partly down to my Aspergers which I was diagnosed with as a child. I talked to a friend who had M.E. and a lot of what they were saying I could really relate with. I then went to see my doctor who referred me to a specialist (I was diagnosed the day I saw the specialist). I had only been Personal Training for a matter of weeks before I had to give it up, at this time I was also working a few nights a week as a barman and was very into my sports/ weightlifting.

About Me

I'm a qualfied Personal Trainer and also have a degree in Business & Management.Currently fighting against an illness called M.E. which restricts me from a lot of things but I keep strong and do as much as my body will let me! Despite being housebound more often than I would like, I study Theology and also working towards my grades in singing and piano. I'm also experimenting with lighter workouts and healthy eating plans to help keep my body relatively active!I was also diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome as a child and raise awareness for these conditions on social networking sites such as twitter and youtube.Feel free to contact me about anything and I look forward to hearing from you. :)